Photons are ______ electrically.

Asked in GSEB Board March 2022 · Conceptual points of the photoelectric effect

Answer: (1) neutral

Step-by-step solution

Idea: photons are the quanta of electromagnetic radiation.

Light is not deflected by electric or magnetic fields, which shows that its photons carry no charge.

So photons are electrically neutral.

(2) Negative charge belongs to the electrons that photons knock out, not to the photons. A beam of light is not deflected by electric or magnetic fields.
(3) A charged photon would be bent by electric and magnetic fields; light passes through such fields undeflected, so photons carry no positive charge.
(4) A particle's charge does not switch sign from moment to moment, and photons carry no charge at all.

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